Visteon's Stitch in Time

Visteon Corp. Faces the Very Real possibility of a near-term Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing after posting a $663 million loss for 2008, but the supplier remains focused on developing advanced technology that will be needed when industry sales rebound.

At least one relatively new contract for Visteon is worth celebrating: the instrument panel for the all-new '09 Dodge Ram pickup. Every contract Visteon wins outside Ford Motor Co. is notable because it represents increasing independence for Ford's former parts maker. Visteon split off from Ford on June 29, 2000.

The Ram launched in late 2008 into a U.S. market beset by volatile gas prices and plunging vehicle sales due to the scarcity of financing and an economic freefall.

But the Ram gets high marks for its interior, and Visteon deserves some of the credit, delivering the door trim and instrument panel for the high-volume pickup. Visteon is the sole supplier for those components, across all trim levels.

Visteon is particularly proud of an innovative process used to apply authentic stitching on the IP of the Ram's two top trim levels, Laramie and Sport.

“This is the technology we thought was appropriate for that buyer who might own a ranch and might have horses,” Richard Vaughan, Visteon's manager-Design Office, tells Ward's recently.

“One thing we learned in our research was that people who live this lifestyle, they love western wear, they go to rodeos,” Vaughan says.

Heavy stitching, as if on a saddle, resonates with these well-heeled consumers. “They associate the stitch with the types of products they actually own,” he says. “That's quite different from someone living on the East Coast with a luxury sedan and associates the stitch with, say, a high-end purse or luxury leather.”

Vaughan says the Ram is the first pickup with real stitching across the entire IP. It's applied robotically through an innovative process after the dash is formed.

Stitching has been used in upscale pickups in the past on seats, door panels and on the shroud that tops the instrument cluster. In those applications, fabric has been sewn by hand, then wrapped over the component. It's a labor-intensive process that is expensive and generates scrap.

Visteon uses negative thermoforming to produce the Ram IP with a molded seam that runs from A-pillar to A-pillar. The component then is loaded into another machine, and a laser-guided robot applies two distinctive parallel stitches along the seam.

“This looks very luxurious. It's quite an achievement for us,” Vaughan says. “When we showed it to Chrysler (LLC), they were very excited about it.”

Visteon does the work at the new plant it opened in Highland Park, MI, in 2007.

Without discussing details, Vaughan says the robotic process is less expensive and simpler than the old cut-and-sew method conventionally used.

He says the innovation was possible because Visteon collaborated with Chrysler and was invited into the Ram design program much earlier than usual.

Other auto makers have talked for years about incorporating suppliers earlier in vehicle programs, but Vaughan sees Chrysler going “over and above what other car companies are doing.”

In his 2007 keynote speech at the Ward's Auto Interiors Show, Chrysler's Ralph Gilles, then-design vice president with responsibility for color and trim, promised the new Ram would benefit from more supplier collaboration and longer interior-design lead times.

Gilles said at the time Chrysler was committed to pull ahead its interior-design programs by 40-60 weeks. He since has been promoted to vice president-design at Chrysler.

The new philosophy made Visteon “very proactive in pursuing the business” with Chrysler, Vaughan says. A dedicated research project by the supplier to identify the wants and needs of Dodge Ram buyers began more than a year before the contract was in hand.

The research project sent two Visteon designers on a road trip through Wyoming pickup country in a previous-generation Ram.

“They were gone for a week,” Vaughan says. “They went to the diners, the bars, the rodeos. They drove through towns and just talked to people.”

The research also identified younger, more adventurous buyers without a lot of money who still want to make a styling statement with their pickups.

For this buyer, the standard Ram instrument panel springs from a 2-color injection technology used for the first time on such a high-volume pickup, Vaughan says.

A 40-ton (36-t) press and a rotating platen are used to form the instrument panel with two “shots” of color to provide the necessary contrast, while reducing cost. The result is one part instead of several that must be painted separately and installed.

Chrysler Increases Lead Times for Interior Development
subscribers.WardsAuto.com/ar/chrysler_lead_times/